Dashboard: Fundraising and deals go big in January

Fundraising (value up 125%)

U.S.-based venture firms raised nearly $2.7 billion in January, a spike from the $1.2 billion that was collected in December, according to a preliminary analysis of the Thomson Reuters data.  Norwest Venture Partners led the way in the opening month of 2016, raising $1.2 billion for its 13th flagship fund. Lead Edge Capital came in second by raising $473.5 million for its fourth primary fund.

Deals (value up 36%)

Deals within the venture market also jumped, seeing its aggregate value go up by 36 percent from December to January. The overall value went from $3.64 billion to $4.95 billion, despite the deal count dropping from 307 to 282. The top deal of the month was LYFT Inc, a ridesharing networking company, closing on $1 billion in equity.

M&A (value down 80%)

Mergers and acquisitions took a nose dive to open the year. There were a total of 26 venture-backed, U.S.-based companies that were acquired in January. Of those, there were five with disclosed values that combined for a total of $615.5 million, a drastic fall from the nearly $3.1 billion in December. The premier deal with disclosed value in January was SurgiQuest Inc being absorbed by CONMED Corp for $265 million.

IPOs (proceeds down 100%)

For a third month in a row, IPOs took a step back, this time in its entirety. January did not record a venture-backed IPO after one in December valued at $462 million.

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